Benalla student to highlight migrant camp history as part of degree

By Simon Ruppert

Sep 26, 2022

Benalla's Sarah Bismire is doing research into the Benalla Migrant Camp as part of her degree. — Local histories: Benalla’s Sarah Bismire is doing research into the Benalla Migrant Camp as part of her degree. Photo by Contributed

Benalla’s Sarah Bismire is in the final semester of a Bachelor of Arts at Melbourne University, majoring in history.

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For her final subject Ms Bismire has to create a project based on primary sources.

After an online search she has chosen to base her research on the Benalla Migrant Camp Exhibition.

Ms Bismire said the incredible amount of research done, and personal photos and histories that had been collated from migrant registration cards to social worker reports, provides a goldmine of material for research and interpretation.

“I had no idea we had such an interesting part of Australian post war history right here in Benalla,” Ms Bismire said.

“I remember for that part of history study in school, we went to the Holocaust Museum in Melbourne when we could have stayed right here.”

Ms Bismire said at university 20th century history, and in particular the aftermath of World War II, are front and centre of academic historical interest right now.

“The single or widowed mothers of the Benalla Migrant Camp were particularly interesting as a rather unique piece of Australia’s migration history,” she said.

“The fact that the camp’s history was researched and written up by an academic such as Charles Sturt University’s Professor Bruce Pennay OAM, and that there is such an interesting piece on the women of the camp written by ANU Professor Dr Alex Dellios, means I can follow up all the citations and establish a rich catalogue of primary sources.”

Ms Bismire said she was planning to turn her research into a piece of historical fiction and was promising to share it with the Benalla community, with it becoming part of the Benalla Migrant Camp Exhibition in some way.

Exhibition curator Sabine Smyth said assisting students such as Ms Bismire was the fuel in her engine.

“I thrive on the interest of young people who can see the potential of this site and its history, who see what I am seeing,” Ms Smyth said.

“There is such an interest from the wider regional community, and the requests for images and information from academics is ongoing.

“Benalla could and should be doing more with this interest tourism-wise, and maybe one day this will be the case.

“Our project is staying focused on doing what we do best, working with hundreds of former resident families to create a tremendous community asset and promoting Benalla to the wider world.”